extreme Catholic

BBC: Discussion of the British targeting of residential areas in World War II

Continuing what I started with my short blog on Sylvania/Fredonia, here's another item on an unjust aspect of a just war.

It was wrong to bomb non-military targets in Germany for terror-effect. It did not shorten the war or lessen casulties for the Allies.

I can't find anyone defending this as just.

The only thing that's controversial is what did Churchill know and when did he know it, and as commander-in-chief of the British armed forces, he could have stopped it but didn't. Joerg Haider called him a war criminal. Historians have tended to blame Air Marshall Sir Arthur Harris ("Bomber" Harris).

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 5:01 PM Permalink

25,000 Spanish Catholics Petition to be excommunicated

The case has provoked strong feelings in Nicaragua and abroad More than 25,000 people in Spain have asked the Roman Catholic Church to excommunicate them.
Their move is in support of a Nicaraguan couple who were thrown out of the Church for allowing their young daughter to have an abortion after she was raped.
The petition, organised by a number of women's groups in Spain, was handed to the Vatican's ambassador in Madrid, Manuel Monteiro de Castro.

I think this is quite a big story -- getting overlooked in the US press. Technically, the article is wrong on the nature of the excommunication. The Church doesn't excommunicate the parents and abortion workers. They excommunicate themselves. It is called a latae sententiae excommunication. The other kind of excommunication is like a conviction after juridical process ferendae sententiae.

There's a process to getting excommunicated. Asking for it isn't one that the Church recognizes. See Canons 1364-1369 for ideas. I'm not a canon lawyer, please consult your canon law adviser before placing your soul in jeopardy.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 4:13 PM Permalink

Seattle Post-Intelligencer (AP) Morbid Valentine Gets Teacher in Trouble

PHOENIX -- A theology teacher at a Roman Catholic high school lost his job after giving a student a valentine that read, "I hate you, I wish you would die."
A police report stated R. Scott Jones passed out similar cards Feb. 14 to his other students at St. Mary's High School, many of whom regarded it as a joke, but one 17-year-old boy said he was "freaked out" by the card.

This teacher is 44 and simply too dumb to teach. What was he thinking?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 4:04 PM Permalink

A fellow blogger, Oswald Sobrino started his the same day I started mine. On the topic of Iraq he's got this excellent article: Catholic Analysis; False Choice: "Back President or Back Pope on Iraq?"

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 3:52 PM Permalink

Sylvania and Fredonia

Sylvania is a nation with a large modernized army. It is a regional power. The Catholic faith is the religion of 40% of the people of this country.

Fredonia is a small country with a army of proportional size. The Catholic faith is the religion of 50% of the people of this country.

Sylvania is in a economic depression because of the price of oil and food which it must import. Fredonia is more self-sufficient and its depression is not as servere.

However, the standard of living is higher and schools are better in Sylvania and many Fredonians attempt to enter Sylvania both legally and illegally.

Sylvania demands that oil and food be sold to it with payment made in cash and bonds to be paid in 10 years. Fredonia refuses and Sylvania threatens war.

This is the real deal: an unjust war. It's about oil and money and territory. Sylvania says that just war concepts are outmoded here because of connection of the economy to scarce natural resources. Also, over 100 years ago the border between the two countries was determined by Atlantis, the superpower of that time and wants the old Sylvania region of Fredonia restored.

I would expect and support the Church to confront Sylvania. I'd want the Pope to speak out. I'd want the Cardinal as the Pope's emissary to come to Sylvania. I'd be part of the Assisi Group in Sylvania's Internet. People of good will could perhaps propose that Sylvania's war could be, might be just, but I wouldn't be among them.

I'm not reflexively pro-war or anti-war. It just that in this case, the circumstances do matter and I'd oppose Sylvania's war as an unjust war and march in Gotham City's streets in front of the World Council of Nations. But that's a fictional world. The real case before us is quite different. I accept the Church's teaching on just war. I support the war, if it comes, in Iraq as just.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:39 PM Permalink

This site is site of the day at RightWingNews.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:46 PM Permalink

Tyrannicide For Dummies

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

Tyrannicide literally is the killing of a tyrant, and usually is taken to mean the killing of a tyrant by a private person for the common good. There are two classes of tyrants whose circumstances are widely apart -- tyrants by usurpation and tyrants by oppression. A tyrant by usurpation (tyrannus in titula) is one who unjustly displaces or attempts to displace the legitimate supreme ruler, and he can be considered in the act of usurpation or in subsequent peaceful possession of the supreme power. A tyrant by oppression (tyrannus in regimine) is a supreme ruler who uses his power arbitrarily and oppressively.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:33 PM Permalink

Attention Enemies of the United States:

By reading certain press accounts, you might have believed that the George Bush needs the permission of the United Nations or religious leaders or someone else to defend the United States, or that we need to see the enemy crossing the border before acting:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Unless the President is impeached before 3/17, his policies are going to be carried out.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:25 PM Permalink

Extreme Catholic Sports Page

The college basketball team that bears the name of St. Bonaventure has decided to quit.. CBS Sportsline has the details here and here

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 4:11 PM Permalink

United States interests are at stake

Permanent members of the Security Council: US, Russia, China, UK, France.

Elected Members of the Security Council: Guinea (president), Angola, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chile, Germany, Mexico, Pakistan, Syria, Spain.

The United States doesn't need a permission slip from those 14 to defend its security. If it cannot be recognized as a fact that Saddam has failed to disarm, then the Security Council is meaningless. What's only at stake with the forthcoming vote is the relevance of the United Nations. This is their League of Nations / Mussolini / Haile Selassie moment of truth.

Next time, whoever it is that needs to act to defend its own interests (US, UK, Russia, etc.), the UN is likely to be ignored.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 2:42 PM Permalink

Wall Street Journal, Rob Dreher: Finally, A Rapid Response

Rod Dreher, senior writer for the National Review, observes the contrast of the Pope and curia's activism with respect to US policy on Iraq and their relative inaction on the sexual abuse scandal.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 2:24 PM Permalink

Catholic League: Innocent Priests

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is tracking the charges against priests that have been proven to be false.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:16 AM Permalink

Competing bill would address clergy sex abuse scandal

The anti-Catholic's favorite New York State Senator is Thomas Duane. He has proposed legislation that

Requires that religious institutions report any cases within the last 50 years, even if the suspected perpetrator is dead.
Waives the statute of limitations for three years from the time the bill is made law to allow any adults who believe they were victimized as children to initiate a lawsuit.
Allows adults to file criminal charges until they are 26 years old about abuse as a child or within three years from the time an adult "discovers or reasonably should have discovered" psychological injury or illness resulting from abuse as a child.
Bans the use of charitable funds to pay for lawsuit settlements of "gagged" claims in which the victim must agree to never talk of the incident.

I guess we can dig up the grave of the "suspected perpetrator" and hold a trial for the corpse. Legislation weaker than this has not been passed in years in Albany, so I think this is a tactic for him to get news coverage and play well to his political base.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:12 AM Permalink

Buzz Buildup for an attack on Mel Gibson

Reuters: Actor Mel Gibson Takes Up Traditional Catholicism

People who never knew that Mel was an intense Catholic who prefers the Mass in Latin will be learning about it in the New York Times this weekend. There also appears to be cheap shots directed at Mel's father.

Mel is under attack now, more than ever, since he is filming the first serious film on the life of Jesus since Jesus of Nazareth in 1977. Zenit has a good piece on the details.

Internet Movie Data Base link to The Passion

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:39 AM Permalink

Catholic Converts that you probably were not aware of...

Dick Morris is a convert to the Catholic faith. The story I've heard is that he told his wife that he would do anything to save their marriage after he was infamously caught with a prostitute whose toes he sucked . He was a sex addict. His was raised in the Jewish faith but was not a practicing Jew. His wife is a devout Catholic and through her ability to forgive her husband, that planted the seed of faith. I believe he was baptized in 2002.

Larry Kudlow of CNBC's Kudlow and Cramer is also a covert to the Catholic faith. I recall his story this way: He hit rock bottom after his cocaine addiction got him fired from the chief economist / managing director job at Bear Stearns. In therapy he met some Catholic priests and was became interested in the faith. I believe he was an atheist.

I spent a few minutes looking for a story on the Internet with sources and all that stuff but couldn't find it. I'm only going on what I heard or read. If I got the story wrong, I'll be happy to correct it.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:27 AM Permalink

Weekly Standard Fred Barnes: Peacenik's Top 10

Answers to the most common objects to the war with Iraq.

Blogger credit to: Disordered Affections

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:59 AM Permalink

NY Post Maggie Gallagher: Is War with Iraq Just

Gallagher lays out the case for this being a moral war. She concludes:

This Lent, let all good Christians pray and fast for peace, as U.S. bishops ask. Let us pray and fast as well for moral wisdom to distinguish between true, just and lasting peace and a fearful indifference to the bloody moral consequences of inaction.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:06 AM Permalink

NY Post Dick Morris: Anti-War Errors

My favorite recent convert to the Catholic faith has this insight:

...But another thing is lost in the discussion: The weapons he is now identifying and destroying are only those the list of what the arms inspectors found before he threw them out of Iraq in 1998. None of the weapons he is destroying were made after the inspectors left.

So anything from 1998 to 2003 will not be given as a token offering to the UN inspection "process". There wasn't supposed to be a process -- Saddam agreed to disarm and it would be a simple matter to verify that. But he's running a police state and has perfected the means to conceal WMD production and storage.

So Dick Morris is an honorary member of the Lepanto group.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:57 AM Permalink

No scones or pastries today

The New York Times went to McLean Virginia to look in on Catholics. (Funny the article doesn't mention that city is the headquarters of the CIA).

In own encounters with Catholics they either support the Pope (and oppose the war) or they are confused by the Vatican's statements.

I tell them something I believe but their reaction is generally speaking, they find my explanation is less than satisfactory. Ultimately:

all people of goodwill desire peace.
the decision to war is made by the government with the responsibility and accountability for it.
looking at the identical teaching of the Church, sincere people can come to different conclusions in the concrete application of it.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:26 AM Permalink

NY Sun: Church Quietly Opposed Key Reform in Albany

Low-Profile Lobbying Won Reprieve On Suits on Sexual Abuse BY WILLIAM F. HAMMOND JR.
ALBANY - Roman Catholic Church officials quietly opposed state legislation seven years ago that would have exposed the church to more sexual abuse suits involving priests, sources familiar with those negotiations said.
An early version of the 1996 bill, known as the Child Sex Abuse Reform Act, would have allowed victims to sue only up to three years after realizing they had been emotionally injured by abuse, rather than three years after turning 18 as under current law.
But the Senate sponsor, Codes Chairman Dale Volker of Erie County, insisted on dropping this provision when church officials objected, according to sources speaking on condition of anonymity.

Even though this is not confirmed, the denial from the diocese is in an "I don't recall" form. The criminal statute of limitations was extended but the civil statute of limitations was not. The usual suspects are hammering the Church on this one.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:13 AM Permalink

Is any attempt being made by the other side (advocating that the announced policy of the United States is immoral) -to answer our questions - or to rebut our denial that this is a "pre-emptive war", that the United Nations has authority over American armed forces, that Saddam, if left alone would disarm. The dialog has been disproportionately one-way. Is there anything out there besides "the Pope says so" and "this is a war for oil"?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:31 PM Permalink

You don't say Dept.

Blogger credit to Relapsed Catholic for discovering this: Catholic News reports an Irish archbishop belives that drinking is a problem among the Irish.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:37 PM Permalink

Yahoo-Reuters Protest Girls

shows us these girls on Ash Wednesday who have followed the directions of the Holy Father. Although in their case, the fasting is probably to emulate pop stars rather than to follow the example of Christ and the saints.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:54 PM Permalink

Woman Offers Bush Crucifixion-For-Peace Deal

I know that Reuters filed this under humor but there's nothing funny about these reports of torture and crucifixion in Saddam's Iraq: UK Times: MP backs war after meeting victims of Saddam's torture

A peace under Saddam is not freedom.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:03 PM Permalink

Media Bias?

Surely you must have seen the headline Baghdad Rejects Pope's Iraq Argument during the time of the Aziz visit to Rome and Assissi or the Etchegaray visit to Iraq?

Wait? You say you didn't see it? But clearly the message that the Pope had for Iraq was rejected.

A week later and the headline is AP: White House Rejects Pope's Iraq Argument. A more accurate and less-biased way is just to report it as they reported the Iraq/Vatican dialog. The parties listened and didn't change their position.

Frankly, the language of "no moral justification for a pre-emptive war" is not going to be helpful because it's so far from the reality that the Bush team is working from. The Vatican as a matter of prudential judgment can frame the question this way. It's an error to believe they can impose that worldview on the United States.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:19 PM Permalink

Praying for Peace Today

I'm praying for peace as the Pope has asked all Catholics to do. I went to the 1 PM Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral and it was packed. The homily was a traditional one for Ash Wedneday and the priest did not mention the war.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 3:47 PM Permalink

This is the Thomas Nast cartoon that had such an impact on me in High School. I mention it below in the context of the visit of Cardinal Laghi to President Bush this week. Many thanks to Rod Dreher of National Review for the favorable mention of this blog in National Review Online today.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:51 PM Permalink

New York Daily News: Fr. Michael Hands was given a sentence of two years for sodomizing a boy

In New York State, that turns out to actually be 16 months. If you are a bit puzzled why such a light sentence I can explain that. Fr. Hands revealed names and details to a grand jury which recently made its report public.

The diocese disputes the findings of that report.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:31 PM Permalink

un-Reason has an out-of-control comment block on allegations of anti-semitism of the Catholic Church.

Of course, the comments shifted to a discussion of homosexuality at 3/3 9.28 PM.

Keep in mind that there's quite a big difference among the following:

The theological or soteriological status of the Jews.
Relations between Jewish communities of believers and Catholic communities of believers (such as right here in New York.)
Diplomatic actions made by the Vatican to influence Muslim-controlled areas of the world.

Around the blogosphere you can find all sorts of anti-Catholic attacks relating to that last point. I'll be happy to explain and defend the first two items. Don't ask me to defend the Church's support of the terrorists in their attack on the Church of the Nativity and the triumphant Etchegaray-Arafat photograph.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 5:27 PM Permalink

Rice met with 4 Cardinals

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice met with:

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington
Philadelphia's Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua
Baltimore's Cardinal William Keeler
Cardinal Edward Egan of New York.

No room in the limo for Cardinals Dulles, George, Maida, and Mahony.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 4:33 PM Permalink

AP: Bills on Child Sex Abuse Languish

I mostly agree with the author, the lack of legislative action on this is a mystery.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 4:27 PM Permalink

Imagine This...

Imagine if the current President were Catholic. Could there even be the merest thought that the Pope would make a great public show of sending a Cardinal to influence the Catholic President on a matter of national security and war?

The images of Thomas Nast's alligators transforming themselves into bishops as they climb out of the Atlantic. It would trigger a Gangs of New York nativist moment -- from Bob Jones University to the editorial room of the New York Times.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:08 AM Permalink

NY Times: On the Bush-Laghi Connection

Cardinal Laghi, 80, has known the Bush family since the 1980s, when he and George H.W. Bush were neighbors on Embassy Row. The elder Bush was then vice president, living on the grounds of the Naval Observatory on Massachusetts Avenue, while Laghi, the Vatican's first ambassador to Washington, lived across the street at the Vatican Embassy.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:02 AM Permalink

The Return of Cardinal Pio Laghi

Is this a photo-op or something serious? If there's any connection from Cardinal Laghi to President Bush 41 or 43, I have never heard of it. As far as I know, Cardinal Laghi was just the nunico at the time Bush 41 and a not exaclty "longtime friend of the Bush family".

Anyone know anything concrete about this friendship?

Oh and if anyone happens to meet Cardinal Laghi, be sure to thank him for his role in rubber-stamping all the bishop-candidates put forward by Cardinals Bernardin and Law and apparently ignoring all the letters sent to the nunicature regarding sexual abuse by priests.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:00 AM Permalink

CNN: Pledge of Allegiance ban set for March 10 in nine states

The news is finally getting out of the blogosphere and into the old media: the implication of the refusal of the Ninth Circuit to revisit the decision -- is that the pledge will be prohibited. By that I don't mean that saying it will be criminialized -- however, a public school that has a organized recited pledge is likely to be sued on the basis of the so-far-successful Michael Newdow lawsuit. Having an individual opt-out will not be sufficient.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:34 AM Permalink

Limits of Competence

We're familiar with the concept of competence: for brain surgery, you go to a brain surgeon, for ideas on who to decorate you go to Martha Stewart, for ideas on how to connect to an ECN, you could come to me.

There are limits to competence. What I fail to see is a humble acknowledgement of what the issues are. I became aware of this during the Regan years when bishops called the basing of Pershing 2 missiles in Europe in the 1980's an immoral act. For the first time, missiles would be fired from Europe and not the United States, if Europe was attacked by the Soviet Union.

Don't ask me, I can't recall what the argument was why Euro-based missiles were "immoral" and larger US-based missiles were moral, but I dug up a typical statement of that era:

Technology acts as a two-edged sward in the nuclear competition; some technological changes (e.g., Permissive Action Links) contribute to increasing control of nuclear weapons; other developments (e.g., MIRVing) have had a long-term destabilizing impact. Since 1983, developments in missile accuracy, anti-satellite weapons and stealth technology have continued the bivalent influence of technology on the arms race. The dilemmas of command, control and communication systems (C3) illustrate this well. Some improvements in C3 are dangerous if they enhance "war-fighting" capabilities and feed the illusion of surviving an extended nuclear exchange.

Did the bishop's competence in 1983 extend to knowing what impact Permissive Action Links had in deterring Soviet agression? Thanks be to God the question has been rendered moot.

More recently, a bishop opposed to immigration reform legislation was asked specifically what proposed laws he supported and opposed. He was caught being ignorant of any of the legislation or legislators which he was saying was "immoral". (Whatever it is I'm against it.)

Let me engage in my own finger-wagging here: here are some areas where the bishops have competence:

The emotional and phychological suitability for candidates for the priesthood.
The fidelity of Catholic institutions of higher learning to the Catholic faith.
The conduct of Catholic pastors in inviting pro-abortion political figures to speak at Mass.

and this is a list that could go on and on. This is the area where the bishops office and charism lies.

Regarding war, Who decides how grave is grave, how lasting is lasting, how certain is certain?

Who makes the concrete evaluations of the specific circumstances?

The catechism has the answer: (CCC 2309) The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.

These people in the United States are the elected officials, the President and Congress. They have the responsibility. If a bishop or priest is wrong on this grave matter, they can shug and say "well, I tried peace and it didn't work out". I worry and President Bush worries about Iraq handing-off a small nuke to a ship controlled by terrorists which explodes at Pier 80 in Manhattan and kills millions of Americans.

I trust President Bush to weigh the lasting, grave, and certain nature of that threat.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:23 PM Permalink

Zenit: War Would Be Unjustified, Says U.S. Bishop Warns of Troubling Moral Precedents

In blogger news cycles, this is almost ancient history -- from Thursday February 27, 2003. Bishop Wilton Gregory characterizes the United States policy incorrectly. It only creates more problems when you distort it this way.

Our bishops' conference continues to question the moral legitimacy of any pre-emptive, unilateral use of military force to overthrow the government of Iraq.

The terms that I think are mis-characterizations:

pre-emptive This is contradicted by the United Nations which has issued its resolutions based on the past behavior of Iraq, not its hypothetical future behavior.
unilateral This is contradicted by the list of nations which have indicated that the support the use of force if necessary to require Saddam Hussein to disarm.
- Australia
- Bahrain
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Hungary
- Italy
- Jordan
- Kuwait
- Oman
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Romania
- Saudi Arabia
- Slovakia
- Spain
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
There's more detail in this Reuters report. Rather, I think it's France that is the new unilateralist in the politcal debate.
Also, France may not be acting from pure motives. There are indications that in violation of the United Nations sanactions and French law, French corporations and French citizens cooperated in the development of weapons of mass destruction since 1991.

overthrow This is contradicted by the United Nations resolution and the stated objective of the United States. The overthrow of Saddam Hussein, or his voluntary resignation from the presidency, are only possible means among several to the end of disarming Iraq's WMD's. Given the public record of Saddam Hussein I am not going to be suprised to find that the only effective means to disarm Iraq's WMD's will be armed force.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:03 PM Permalink

Strange New Respect Dept.:

After asking us to accept, believe, and trust Saddam, the "peace is only the absence of war" side of this debate, the inspectors located and tagged "dozens" of undisclosed, prohibited missiles.

What would you expect after this reality has hit them in the face? An admission that Saddam is a liar and we were duped.

No, it is a euphoric celebration that the inspections are working despite the lack of truth and cooperation on the part of Iraq.

Saddam's strategy is a limited, measured amount of release of weapons to drag out the process -- leaving American toops vulnerable to a surprise attack while they are concentrated in staging bases, and for the weather to turn against the troops.

I'd like to call this the War of Saddam's Insincerity and the Credulity of the Naive. We are being played.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:04 AM Permalink

NJ.com: Another Post-Christian says spirituality good -- religion bad.

Ralph Fiennes sees the emotional connection between the parts -- "these complicated, screwed-up people" he calls them -- but thinks the bond runs deeper than that. Born into a intensely spiritual family -- one great-uncle is a Benedictine monk, and another uncle a professor of theology at Cambridge -- the actor finds himself seeking out parts that embody moral complexities.
"I was raised Catholic, although I chucked it in at 19," he admits with a wry smile. "Yet I've always been fascinated by the paradox of faith and the messiness of being a human being, that spiritual instinct that can go hand-in-hand with your own personal duplicity ... .Graham Greene understood that, which is why I always felt very close to his work, and was so eager to be in 'The End of the Affair.'"

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:48 AM Permalink

I loved this picture, but you will be surprised when you find out its origin here

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:09 PM Permalink

More Catholics who think like me

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:52 PM Permalink

Pope revises Vatican norms on clergy sex abuse, confession

Here's the best part:

Now the congregation can make exceptions on a case-by-case basis. It can allow the appointment of a layperson or a deacon and the appointment of someone who has a canon law licentiate -- one degree below a doctorate -- and has "worked in ecclesiastical tribunals for a reasonable time."
Those exceptions could be especially important in the United States, where an increasing number of tribunal personnel are nuns, deacons or lay people and where the clergy sex abuse crisis of the past year has contributed to substantial popular sentiment against allowing only priests to serve as judges in church courts trying priests accused of such abuse.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:37 PM Permalink

AP: Preparation for Ash Wednesday in Santo Domingo (Holy Sunday), Dominican Republic

Smile, it's carnival.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:19 PM Permalink

Case 7348: The Death Penalty

It has happenned again. My argument that current penalties imposed on murderers are insufficient to protect society. If the Pope has addressed deterrence in his writings on capital punishment I have not be able to find it. The bishops who have written on this and declared that deterrence does not work appear not to have not examined the sociological evidence that's been piling up.

I'm not a sociologist but I'm presenting more annecdotal evidence now that robberies in which the victim may be able to identify the robber are becoming murders -- because the criminal is calculating that the time that a robber serves and the time that a murderer serves in prison are almost the same -- and killing the victim greatly reduces the chances of being caught.

The victim is also the principle witness. He or she can scream for help, call the police after you leave, give them your description, identify you upon arrest, testify against you in court. Kill this witness -- it makes no difference in the time served.

WINS: Fatal shooting in robbery at Auto Parts Store.

and a link to the Newsday: Wendy's Massacre 5/24/2000

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:54 PM Permalink

This guy looks familiar

KS Monhammed

When I used to travel on business regularly, there always seemed to be cab drivers like this at the airport who would refuse to take me home because they want a bigger fare for going to Manhattan.

This from a real CNN story on Khalid Shaikh Mohammed's capture during a raid in Pakistan on Saturday.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:32 PM Permalink

Vatican to put words into action?

For all the talk of the United States going to war as unjust, illegal, or criminal, the Vatican has the option and perhaps even the duty to take action. The condemnation of the so-called war of agression of the United States could lead to these acts:

Directing chaplains to preach to Catholic soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines that they are combatants in an unjust war.
Providing sanctuary to deserters from the armed forces.
Releasing Catholic citizens from their obligations and alligeance to the de-legitimized government of the United States (such as the payment of taxes)
Excommunication of the Catholic members of the government
Interdict (i.e. the prohibition of the celebration of the Mass and other litugical acts) in the United States

Words have meaning. If the Vatican wants credibility in its condemnation of the United States, it can take the next step.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:30 AM Permalink